stuff i think

humanity is a fringe movement...

I've been reading A.W. Pink's The Attributes of God this morning. Crammed full of scripture and deep thoughts, I sat reflecting and thinking "Wow - I read a lot further than I expected". Based on the amount of head tilt I was encountering, I figured I'd read twenty pages or so...so I checked.

Four. Four pages. And not really even four complete pages, when considering a chapter heading. More like 3.875 pages. Part of me wishes this book was longer and part of me knows that if it was I'd never finish it because I'd get lost between the covers (the good lost).

In the book, he talks about the vastness and solitariness of God. He references Job 26 and how it describes the scope of God's activity....He spreads out the northern skies over empty spaces...by His power He churned up the sea...by his breath the skies became fair... and then drops the bomb of verse 14:

"And these are but the outer fringe of His works; how faint the wisper of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?"

Yikers. For all we see - weather patterns both pleasant and destructive, the laws of physics, the vastness of creation (including ourselves) - it's just the edge. We think of ourselves as the jewel of all creation...and all we have are a few bare threads of reality hinting at the tapestry just beyond our grasp. We're peeking at the margins of a book and thinking we personally know the Author. We are a fringe movement....we barely touch His fringe and yet we're undone by what we do see and know.

What's He really like? What's out there? We have a clue, but certainly no more than that...and yet it's enough to turn our lives upside down if we live it out with integrity.